Jennifer Donnelly Quotes

There is a ghost here. A lonely, heartbroken spirit. The ghost of everything that could've been and never was. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Let no rough waters rend apart
Two who have become one heart.
For love's no love that can't withstand
A rogue wave breaking on the sand. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Will gritted his teeth as Will Junior and Nellie continued their debate. He loved his son, but he found him
and many members of hisgeneration
ruthless in their pursuit of money and standing and harsh toward the less fortunate. He had reminded him on many occasions that both the McClanes and their mother's family
the Van der leydens
had at one time been immigrants. As had members of all the city's wealthy families. But Will's lectures made no difference to his son. He was an American. And those getting off the boat at Castle Garden were not. Italian, Irish, Chinese, Polish
nationality made no difference. They were lazy, stupid, and dirty. Their numbers spelled ruin for the country. p. 264 ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I lift my face to the night sky.
It's still dark.
But I can see the stars. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

An escape can become escapism before we even know it. Books are wonderful things, but you can't live in someone else's story. You have to live your own story. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Who knew that listening to a guy sleep could be so much deeper than sleeping with a guy. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

We woke as if from a nightmare only to find that the ugly are still not beautiful and the dull still do not sparkle. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Even the strong couldn't be strong all the time. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

You are a ghost, Andi," she says. "Almost gone."
I look at her. I want to say something but I can't get the words out.
She squeezes my hands. "Come back to us," she says. And she's gone. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Most people will fight when there is some hope of winning, no matter how slim. They are called brave. Onle a few will keep fighting when all hope is gone. They are called warriors ~ Jennifer Donnelly

She wanted to scream her grief to the skies and wail like an animal, but she couldn't. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

What I saw next stopped me dead in my tracks. Books. Not just one or two dozen, but hundreds of them. In crates. In piles on the floor. In bookcases that stretched from floor to ceiling and lined the entire room. I turned around and around in a slow circle, feeling as if I'd just stumbled into Ali Baba's cave. I was breathless, close to tears, and positively dizzy with greed. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I struggled for a long time to get anything published. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Jealousy. It burns so hot, so bright. It devours you until you're just a smoking ruin with nothing left inside. Nothing but ashes. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

If I had coal and fire
And metal fine and true
I'd make an iron band
An iron band for you
I'd pick up all the pieces
From where they fell that day
Fit them back together
And take the pain away
But I don't have the iron
And I don't have the steel
To wrap around your broken heart
And teach it how to heal
Somewhere in the fire
Somewhere in the pain
I'd find the magic that I need
To make you whole again
I'd make the iron band so strong
I'd make it gleam so bright
I'd fix the things I've broken
I'd turn my wrongs to right
But I don't have the steel
To wrap around your broken heart
Wish I could make it heal
Wish I could make it heal
(Ch. 27) ~ Jennifer Donnelly

She smells of her cooking and the perfume Eau d'Hadrien. My mother wore it, too. She used to cook, like Lili. Our house smelled of garlic and thyme instead of sadness. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Call a girl pretty once, and all she wants, forevermore, is to hear it again. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

And Robespierre, the Incorruptible, who loved us so much he cut off our heads so we would not be troubled by too many thoughts. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I want the key", he said. "The key to the universe. To life. To the future and the past. To love and hate. Truth. God. It's there. Inside of us. In the genome. The answer to every question. If I can find it. That's what I want," he finished, softly. "I want the key. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Sadness enfolded her like a long black cape. p. 4 ~ Jennifer Donnelly

And then I remember this morning and I wonder if it really happened or if I dreamed it. It was nice. And weird. And tender. I'm not used to tender. It's a fossil, that word. Conditions changed and it died out. Like the woolly mammoth. It just couldn't live in the same world as dick box. Ho dog. Or wiener cousins. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Good warrior knows when to lose a battle so she can live to fight the war. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Because nothing is more dangerous than hope ~ Jennifer Donnelly

And a good warrior knows when to lose a battle so she can live to fight the ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I've been in contact with her. She approached me months ago. I know the terms of her deal. She's going to tell Ragnar that Ondalina's attack on Miromara was an act of war and that he must surrender. Either he accepts Lucia ~ Jennifer Donnelly

They leave things behind sometimes, the guests. A bottle of scent. A crumpled handkerchief. A pearl button that fell off a dress and rolled under a bed. And sometimes they leave other sorts of things. Things you can't see. A sigh trapped in a corner. Memories tangled in the curtains. A sob fluttering against the windowpane like a bird that flew in and can't get back out. I can feel these things. They dart and crouch and whisper. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I look around myself wildly, my heart bursting with grief and fear and joy. I am leaving, but I will take this place and its stories with me wherever I go. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

We all make mistakes, the danger lies in letting those mistakes make us. Make us believe we can't put things right. Make us think there's no hope. Make us give up. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Her fear was strong, but her need for the truth was stronger. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

We who have means and a voice must use them to help those who have neither. Yet how can we help them if we don't even know about them? And how can we know about them if no one writes about them? Is it so wrong to want to know things? ~ Jennifer Donnelly

You terrify me, Isabelle. I've never met a girl like you. You're a fighter, fierce as hell. You never quit. You don't know how. You don't need anyone. You certainly don't need me. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

The worst day above ground is better than any day under it. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

The King walks. He nods. His glance is like God's touch - under it all things spring to life. A wave of his hand and a hundred musicians tear into the Handel, making a sound you've never heard before, and never will again. A sound that goes through you, through flesh and bone, and reorders the very beat of your heart. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Stop burdening the gods. Stop cursing the devil. They will make no path for you. They gave you their dark gifts: reason and will. Now you must make your own way.
What's done is done. Whether to you, or by you, and you cannot change it.
But what's not done is not done.
And there, both hope and hazard lie. Believe that you can make your way. Or don't. Either way you are right. Every war is different, yet each battle is the same. The enemy is only a distraction. The thing you are fighting against, always, is yourself. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Voice, according to Miss Wilcox, is not just the sound that comes from your throat but the feeling that comes from your words ~ Jennifer Donnelly

But here, surrounded by friends who wanted her, she recognized for the first time that there was only one voice that truly mattered. Only one she had to listen to. Her own. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Because in a small dark room, a broken child lies on a filthy bed and stares up at a high window.
He waits for me, too.
And I - I who have failed at everything and have failed everyone - I must not, I cannot, I will not fail him. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

For I have seen it and I have felt it and it is love, not death, that undoes us. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Murder is not a suitable topic of conversation for a young lady. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Why do you write?' Because I love words and stories so much. Because I would be grief stricken every day of my life if I couldn't write. Because I'm obsessed and compelled. Because I'd be utterly useless at anything else. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Fairy tales give it to us straight. They tell us something profound and essential - that the woods are real, and dark, and full of wolves. That we will, at times, find ourselves hopelessly lost in them. But these tales also tell us that we are all that we need, that we have all we need - guts, smarts, and maybe a pocketful of breadcrumbs - to find our way home. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

There was a knock at the door. It was Lumiere. The Beast bade him enter.
"Is there anything else you require tonight before retiring, master?"
"I - I thought we might go skating tomorrow."
Lumiere's eyebrows shot up. "Skating, master? You? You've never skated in your life!"
"Belle mentioned that she has skated before. Back in her village. I thought she might like to try it here. How hard can it be?"
"On the backside? Very," said Lumiere. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

It was a trick. It was this place, all the memories. His longing heart and the darkness conspiring. But his eyes told him it was no trick. He jumped down off the steps and walked toward her. Hoping. Fearing. He'd done this before. So many times. Caught sight of a slender black-haired woman and impulsively called to her, only to have her turn and gaze at him with eyes that were questioning, coldly polite, and never, ever hers. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I played a role. That is what actors do. But I played it too well. I went too far. And by the time I wanted to stop, to take a bow and leave the stage, it was too late. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Who needs make-believe monsters when there are so many real ones. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

So. Are you going to tell me where we're going?
Sure.
Yeah?
We're going to the most beautiful place in Paris, he says.
Cool, I say. I love that place.
He laughs and I decide to stop asking. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

For mad I may be, but I will never be convenient. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

That was what people did when they wanted to stop a girl from doing something - they shamed her. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

He loves the sparkling fountains and their cascades and says the strangest things as he watches them.
they look like stars breaking.
Or, They look like Mama's diamonds.
Or, They look like all the souls in heaven. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Belle's tears spilled over. "Even if I could get out of this place, I wouldn't know where to go," she sobbed. "Where is it, Lucanos? Where is my home?"
The beetle sighed. He touched the tip of one leg to the place over Belle's heart. "It's here, foolish girl," he said. "Home is all the people, all the places, and all the things that you love. You carry it wherever you go. Don't you know that? ~ Jennifer Donnelly

We're not punished for our sins, lad. We're punished by them. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Uh-oh,' Lafitte said ominously. 'Swamp queen just go angry. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Why is it, she wondered now, that boys get to do things and be things and girls only get to watch? ~ Jennifer Donnelly

There is magic in this sad, hard world. A magic stronger than fate, stronger than chance. And it is seen in the unlikeliest of places.
By a hearth at night, as girl leaves a bit of cheese for a hungry mouse.
In a slaughter yard, as the old and infirm, the weak and discarded, are made to matter more than money.
In a poor carpenter's small attic room, where three sisters learned that the price of forgiveness is forgiving.
And now, on a battlefield, as a mere girl tries to turn the red tide of war.
It is the magic of a frail and fallible creature, one capable of both unspeakable cruelty and immense kindness. It lives inside every human being ready to redeem us. To transform us. To save us. If we can only find the courage to listen to it.
It is the magic of the human heart. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Reading became my sanctuary," Belle continued. "I found so much in those books. I found histories that inspired me. Poems that delighted me. Novels that challenged me…" Belle paused, suddenly self-conscious. She looked down at her hands, and in a wistful voice, said, "What I really found, though, was myself. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Namaste. It was a Nepalese greeting. It meant: The light within me bows to the light within you. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Maybe his quietness masked a great and boiling soul. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Make them care, Mattie,' she said softly. 'And don't you ever be sorry.'
-Emily Wilcox ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I just love historical fiction. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

It is hope, not despair, that undoes us all. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine ... ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Elizabeth walked through the path they'd cleared and up to the towering book. She kicked the cover with a well-shod foot. It slammed shut. Then she dipped her brush into the bucket, crossed out the word history, dipped the brush again, and wrote HER STORY in its place. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

If only she could be bold enough, and brave enough, to claim the things she wanted: love, a purpose, a life. But could she be? ~ Jennifer Donnelly

They were not pretty, these women. Pretty did not begin to describe them.
They were shrewd. Powerful. Wily. Proud. Dangerous.
They were strong.
There were brave.
They were beautiful. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

The world goes on, as stupid and brutal as tomorrow as it was today.
And though I am shuddering with pain, and twisting with pain, and sobbing with pain, i laugh.Because I know now. I know the answer. I know the truth.
Oh,dead man, you are dead wrong, I tell him.Can't you see? The world goes on, stupid and brutal, but I [do not.
I do not.] ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Love is not for cowards. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

There were lives in those books, and deaths. Families and friends and lovers and enemies. Joy and despair, jealousy, envy, madness, and rage. All there. I reached out and touched the cover of one called The Earth. I could almost hear the characters inside, murmuring and jostling, impatient for me to open the cover and let them out. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Isabelle thought her heart might burst.One by one, queens, pirates, empresses, and generals from all the corners of the world told their stories, bowed their heads, and left the stage. They were not pretty, these women. Pretty did not begin to describe them.
They were shrewd. Powerful, Wily. Proud. Dangerous.
They were strong.
They were brave.
They were beautiful. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Volnero as the new ruler of Ondalina or Miromara obliterates our entire realm. I will advise Ragnar to accept her terms. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Break a promise to the dead and they'll haunt you, Ada says. Keep the promise and they'll haunt you just the same. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Sometimes, Belle, our troubles are too deep for words," Lumiere said. "It's at times like those when we need our friends the most ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I play until my fingers are blue and stiff from the cold, and then I keep on playing. Until I'm lost in the music. Until I am the music
notes and chords, the melody and harmony. It hurts, but it's okay because when I'm the music, I'm not me. Not sad. Not afraid. Not desperate. Not guilty. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Only education can empty the workhouses and prisons, the slums and rookeries. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Men are the weak ones, luv. Didn't you know? Oh, you make a lot of noise, but its the women who are strong. Where it counts. In 'ere, ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I don't know what I was hoping for. Some small praise, I guess. A bit of encouragement. I didn't get it. Miss Parrish took me aside one day after school let out. She said she'd read my stories and found them morbid and dispiriting. She said literature was meant to uplift the heart and that a young woman such as myself ought to turn her mind to topics more cheerful and inspiring than lonely hermits and dead children.

"Look around yourself, Mathilda," she said. "At the magnificence of nature. It should inspire joy and awe. Reverence. Respect. Beautiful thoughts and fine words."

I had looked around. I'd seen all the things she'd spoken of and more besides. I'd seen a bear cub lift it's face to the drenching spring rains. And the sliver moon of winter, so high and blinding. I'd seen the crimson glory of a stand of sugar maples in autumn and the unspeakable stillness of a mountain lake at dawn. I'd seen them and loved them. But I'd also seen the dark of things. The starved carcasses of winter deer. The driving fury of a blizzard wind. And the gloom that broods under the pines always. Even on the brightest days. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

She was sorry for all the grim-tale girls locked in lonely towers. Trapped in sugar houses. Lost in the dark woods, with a huntsman coming to cut out their hearts. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Well, it seems to me that there are books that tell stories, and then there are books that tell truths ... The first kind, they show you life like you want it to be. With villains getting what they deserve and the hero seeing what a fool he's been and marrying the heroine and happy endings and all that ... But the second kind, they show you life more like it is ... The first kind makes you cheerful and contented, but the second kind shakes you up. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

And I knew in my bones that Emily Dickinson wouldn't have written even one poem if she'd had two howling babies, a husband bent on jamming another one into her, a house to run, a garden to tend, three cows to milk, twenty chickens to feed, and four hired hands to cook for. I knew then why they didn't marry. Emily and Jane and Louisa. I knew and it scared me. I also knew what being lonely was and I didn't want to be lonely my whole life. I didn't want to give up on my words. I didn't want to choose one over the other. Mark Twain didn't have to. Charles Dickens didn't. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I finished polishing the clock and picked up one of the figurines next to it. It was in the shape of an angel and on the angel's gown were printed the words: ALMIGHTY GOD, GIVE US SERENITY TO ACCEPT WHAT CANNOT BE CHANGED, COURAGE TO CHANGE WHAT SHOULD BE CHANGED, AND WISDOM TO KNOW THE ONE FROM THE OTHER. What if you couldn't do that? Couldn't change things and couldn't accept them, either? I took hold of the angel's head and snapped it off. And then I snapped one wing off, and then the other. I broke his arms off, too, and then I asked him how serene he was feeling now ~ Jennifer Donnelly

From the moment he held her, and looked into her eyes, he was a changed man. He'd held that tiny girl in his arms that moment; he would hold her in his heart forever. p. 20 Joe Bristow on being a father ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Revolutions come about when small things happen to small people. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Voice is not just the sound that comes from your throat, but the feelings that come from your words. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Ambition and poverty are powerful motivators ... ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I read it: "A man earned daily for 5 days and 3 times as much as he paid for his board, after which he was obliged to be idle 4 days," it said. "Upon counting his money after paying for his board he found that he had 2 ten-doller bills and 4 dollers. How much did he pay for the board, and what were his wages?"
"All right. Think now," Weaver said. "How would you begin to solve it? What's your X?"
I thought. Very hard. For quite some time. About the man and his meager wages and shabby boardinghouse and lonely life. "Where did he work?" I finally asked.
"What? It doesn't matter, Matt. Just assign an X to-"
"A mill, I bet," I said, picturing the man's threadbare clothing, his worn shoes. "A woolen mill. Why do you think he was obliged to be idle?"
"I don't know why. Look, just-"
"I bet he got sick," I said, clutching Weaver's arm. "Or maybe business wasn't good, and his boss had no work for him. I wonder if he had a family in the country. It would be a terrible thing, wouldn't it, if he had children to feed and no work? Maybe his wife was poorly, too. And I bet he had..."
"Damn it, Mattie, this is algebra, not composition!" Weaver said, glaring at me.
"Sorry," I said, feeling like a hopeless case. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

She was his soulmate, as much a part of him as the very flesh and bone that made him. She was with him, in him, in everything he did. She was everything he wanted from his life, the very measure of his dreams. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

As sure as the seabirds in flight,
As sure as the endless deep blue,
My love is as certain as sunrise.
I vow it will keep us both true. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I'm not crazy; I'm curious. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

It's kind of beautiful, this scary world. I still want to go out of it as soon as possible, but when I look around and stop thinking about how insane it all is and just see it without freaking out, it's really beautiful. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

I will rain down silver and gold for you. I will shatter the black night, break it open, and pour out a million stars. Turn away from the darkness, the madness, the pain. Open your eyes and know that I am here. That I remember and hope. Open your eyes and look at the light. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

She never forgot the day she'd met him, or how his friends had told her to be more than pretty. She never forgot Elizabeth, Yennenga, Abhaya Rani. She wore his gold coin on a chain around her neck until the day she died. But the thing she treasured most was the memory of his smile, a smaile that was a wink and a dare. A wild road on a windy night. A kiss int he dark.
A smile that had given her all she'd ever wanted-a chance.
A chance to be herself. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

God didn't have to punish him; he'd created his own hell. By himself and for himself. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Lots of things are impossible," she said softly. "Until they're not. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

The rain comes down harder as I write. It sheets off the roof in torrents. I wish it would pound against me. Pound the life from my body. The flesh from my bones. The pain from my heart. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

…if these mortals only knew, if they had the merest understanding of the grave, and of the eternity they will spend lying in it, they would eat chocolate for breakfast, caviar for lunch, and sing arias as they slopped the pigs. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Right now I want a word that describes the feeling that you get
a cold sick feeling, deep down inside
when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don't want it to, but you can't stop it. And you know, for the first time, for the very first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be. And that you will never again quite be the same person you were. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Daughter of Merrow, leave your sleep,

The ways of childhood no more to keep.

The dream will die, a nightmare rise,

Sleep no more, child, open your eyes...


Daughter of Merrow, chosen one,

The end begins, your time has come.

The sands run out, our spell unwinds,

Inch by inch, our chant unbinds...


Daughter of Merrow, find the five

Brave enough to keep hope alive.

One whose heart will hold the light,

One possessed of a prophet's sight.

One who does not yet believe,

Thus has no choice but to deceive.

One with spirit sure and strong,

One who sings all creatures' songs.

Together find the talismans

Belonging to the six who ruled,

Hidden under treacherous waters

After light and darkness dueled.

These pieces must not be united,

Not in anger, greed, or rage.

They were scattered by brave Merrow,

Lest they unlock destruction's cage.

Come to us from seas and rivers,

Become one mind, one heart, one bond.

Before the waters, and all creatures in them,

Are laid to waste by Abbadon! ~ Jennifer Donnelly

You can't argue with the dead, no matter what you say, they always have the last word. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Can't you see that the courage to risk, to dare, to toss that gold coin up in the air over and over again, win or lose, is what makes humans human? They are fragile, doomed creatures, blinder than worms yet braver than the gods. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

Words fail me sometimes. I have read most every word in the Webster's International Dictionary of the English Language, but I still have trouble making them come when I want them to. Right now I want a word that describes the feeling you get – a cold sick feeling deep down inside – when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don't want it to, but you can't stop it. And you know you will never be the same again. ~ Jennifer Donnelly

The skin-and-bones dog who shows up at your door. The broken-winged bird you nurse back to health. The kitten you find crying at the side of the road.
You think you're saving them, don't you?
Ah, child. Can't you see?
They're saving you. ~ Jennifer Donnelly